MV 


.and. 


uuri 


Easter  1919 

in 

America  and  France  and  Belgium 


first  Easter  of  peace 
;er  the  long  agony  of 
i  world  war  comes  to 
i  Churches  of  Amer- 
,  as  a  day  of  joy  and 
hope.  N o  resurrec¬ 
tion  season  since  the 
coming  of  our  Saviour  has  had  an  equal 
significance.  It  brings  us  a  message  of 
comfort  for  those  whom  we  have  loved 
and  lost.  It  commemorates  the  doom 
of  tyranny  and  aggression,  the  birth  of 
the  new  era  which  they  died  to  achieve. 
The  spiritual  forces  of  our  country  have 
been  quickened  by  untold  acts  of  sacri¬ 
fice  and  service.  We  are  indeed  fortu¬ 
nate. 

If  Easter,  with  its  promise  of  eternal 
life,  means  so  much  to  us,  what  must  it 
mean  to  France,  with  her  1,700,000 
dead!  What  must  it  mean  to  Belgium! 
Can  they  share  the  peace  and  the  hope 
which  we  feel?  Can  they  look  forward 
to  a  future  equally  full  of  promise? 
They  deserve  more  than  we,  for  they 
were  more  sorely  tried.  Will  their  re¬ 
ward  be  proportionate  to  their  achieve¬ 
ment  ? 

Our  sympathy  and  admiration  go  out 
to  all  the  sufferers  among  our  Allies 
regardless  of  race,  creed  or  color.  But 
we  are  particularly  drawn  at  this  season 
to  a  small  band  of  adherents  of  our  own 
faith,  to  our  Protestant  brothers  of 
France  and  Belgium. 

Their  record  in  the  war  is  heroic:  450 
of  their  pastors  out  of  900  were  in  the 
army;  they  received  128  citations  for 


valor;  nearly  100  pastors  and  theologi¬ 
cal  students  and  150  ministers’  sons 
gave  their  lives  for  France.  Many  of 
their  pastors  were  imprisoned  or  de¬ 
ported. 

The  German  invasion  struck  a  stag¬ 
gering  blow  to  their  churches  in  the 
invaded  areas.  One-eighth  of  all  the 
Protestant  Churches  of  France  were 
under  enemy  fire,  and  these  the 
strongest.  Many  of  them  were  robbed 
of  furniture  and  fittings,  of  doors  and 
windows.  Others  were  converted  into 
storehouses  and  granaries,  or  even  de¬ 
filed  as  stables.  Some  were  demolished 
by  bombs.  Several  were  wantonly  dy¬ 
namited  by  the  retreating  foe. 

Throughout  the  invaded  areas  the 
scattered  congregations  of  these 
churches  are  now  returning.  On  a  bat¬ 
tlefield  six  times  taken  and  retaken  by 
French  and  American  troops  fighting 
side  by  side,  a  group  of  reunited  Prot¬ 
estants  gathered  a  few  weeks  ago  to 
worship.  Let  an  eyewitness  describe 
the  scene: 

“And  now  we  come  to  what  remains  of 
our  church  of  Monneaux.  Much  of  the 
roof  is  gone,  the  steeple  tottering,  the 
pulpit  overturned,  a  thousand  and  one 
pieces  of  wreckage  litter  the  ground; 
but  an  assemblage  of  the  faithful  is  im¬ 
pressive  by  their  reverence  and  their 
feeling.  At  this  service,  the  first  since 
the  war  in  this  house  of  God,  three- 
quarters  destroyed,  where  the  sun  pene¬ 
trates  everywhere,  Pastor  lleyss  has 
taken  for  the  subject  of  his  sermon,  full 
of  hope,  this  passage  of.  the  prophet 
Isaiah:  ‘Watchman,  what  of  the  night? 
The  morning  cometh!’  ” 

Upon  the  skill  of  hand  and  strength 
of  soul  of  such  people  the  future  of 
France  depends.  Like  their  compa- 


triots,  they  have  been  weakened  by  star¬ 
vation,  siekness,  imprisonment.  Their 
nerves  have  in  many  cases  been  shat¬ 
tered  by  shellfire.  Tools  and  materials 
essential  to  agriculture  and  industry 
have  been  taken  away  or  destroyed. 
They  must  build  up  the  structure  of 
their  life  slowly,  painfully,  from  its 
very  foundations.  And  in  addition  to 
this  they  must  reconstruct  and  support 
their  church  life.  They  are  gallantly 
struggling  to  solve  these  difficulties.  It 
is  impossible  for  them  to  do  so  unas¬ 
sisted. 

In  America  great  congregations  will 
celebrate  Easter  Sunday  with  music 
and  thanksgiving  in  their  beautiful 
churches.  Shall  we  have  the  vision  to 
see  beyond  our  chancels  with  their 
masses  of  Easter  lilies,  other  walls  and 
arches  which  are  covered  only  with  wild 
flowers,  roofed  only  by  the  sky  of 
France?  Shall  we  hold  in  our  hearts 
congregations  like  the  one  at  Mon- 
neaux  ? 

Help  us  rebuild  the  churches  of  these 
stricken  people.  French  Protestants 
have  played  a  glorious  part  in  the  his¬ 
tory  of  their  nation  and  of  ours.  We 
have  the  power  to  aid  them  in  their  hour 
of  distress.  There  are  Protestant  pas¬ 
tors  and  congregations  in  France  and 
Belgium  who  have  lost  all  that  they  had. 
Let  us  make  this  Easter  in  very  truth 
for  them  a  day  of  resurrection  and  of 
life. 


THE  FRENCH  AND  BELGIAN 
PROTESTANT  LOSSES 

450  of  the  1,000  pastors  were  mobilized  dur¬ 
ing  the  war. 

100  ministers  and  theological  students  were 
killed  and  150  ministers’  sons. 

Many  pastors  are  returning  from  the  war 
broken  and  prematurely  aged. 

35  churches  were  damaged. 

All  pastors’  incomes  were  seriously  affected. 

THE  PLAN 

To  rebuild  the  devastated  churches,  manses 
and  missions. 

To  refurnish  every  Protestant  manse  with 
such  necessities  as  carpets,  furniture, 
books,  etc. 

To  supplement  the  meager  income  of  the 
pastors  and  through  the  pastors  to  as¬ 
sist  needy  Protestant  refugees  now  neg¬ 
lected  by  other  humanitarian  organiza¬ 
tions. 

To  help  widows  and  fatherless  children  of 
ministers,  evangelists  and  missionaries  not 
actually  killed  in  battle,  and  therefore  not 
entitled  to  a  pension  from  the  state. 

To  assist  in  evangelizing  the  French  people, 
about  twenty-five  million  of  whom  are  now 
open-minded  to  the  Gospel  and  not  vitally 
connected  with  any  church. 

To  assist  the  Protestant  hospitals  and  asy¬ 
lums. 

THE  FRENCH  ARE  DOING  THEIR 
PART 

The  German  indemnity  will  not  be  available 
for  Churches  for  years. 

The  French  cannot  raise  this  money  unas¬ 
sisted.  They  are  giving  to  the  extent  of 
their  resources.  A  joint  campaign  just 
conducted  by  the  French  and  Belgian 
Protestant  Churches  has  only  netted 
$200,000,  or  less  than  one-tenth  of  what 
is  needed.  There  is  no  help  left  except  in 
America,  and  the  American  Red  Cross  is 
leaving  France  this  month. 


A  RESPONSIBILITY  AND  AN 
OPPORTUNITY 

These  thousand  French  Protestant  pastors 
and  their  families  and  seven  hundred  thou¬ 
sand  Protestants  look  to  the  Christians  of 
America  for  sympathy  and  for  help.  At 
this  Easter  time  they  have  asked  for 
money  to  rebuild  their  churches  and  an 
emergency  fund  to  prevent  great  suffer¬ 
ing  among  their  people.  Protestantism 
must  not  die  out  in  the  land  of  the  Hugue¬ 
nots. 

This  appeal  has  come  as  the  result  of  an 
appeal  from  all  of  the  Protestant  organ¬ 
izations  in  France  and  Belgium  to  the 
Federal  Council  of  the  Churches  of 
Christ  in  America.  An  inter-denomina¬ 
tional  committee  known 'as  the  Committee 
for  Christian  Relief  in  France  and  Bel¬ 
gium  are  undertaking  to  raise  $3,000,000. 
The  members  of  the  Executive  Committee 
are : 


Rev  John  Y.  Aitchison 
Prof.  Jean  C.  Bracq 
Rev.  Arthur  J.  Brown 
Rev.  W.  I.  Chamberlain 
Rev  Francis  E.  Clark 
Rev.  Chas.  S.  Cleland 
Rev.  Henry  S.  Coffin 
Mrs.  James  C.  Colgate 
Rt.  Rev.  J.  H.  Darlington 
Rev  Wm.  H.  Foulkes 
Rev.  James  I.  Good 
William  A.  Harbison 
Rev.  William  I.  Haven 


Rev.  Hubert  C.  Herring 
Rev.  William  S.  Holt 
Mrs.  Frank  B.  Kelley 
Rev.  Frederick  Lynch 
Rev.  C.  B.  McFarland 
Rev.  H.  G.  Mendenhall 
Paul  G.  McIntire 
Rev.  Frank  M.  North 
Rev.  W.  W.  Pinson 
Rev.  R.  C.  Reed 
Edmond  E  Robert 
Wm.  Jay  Schieffelin 
Rev.  Charles  J.  Smith 


Director  of  the  Campaign,  George  0. 
Tamblyn;  Treasurer,  Alfred  R.  Kimball. 

Headquarters:  289  Fourth  Ave.,  New 
York  City. 

Won’t  you  express  your  belief  that  the  res¬ 
urrection  of  the  world  is  a  practical  un¬ 
dertaking  by  making  an  Easter  gift  to  the 
committee  endeavoring  to  resurrect  the 
hopes,  the  faith  and  the  buildings  of 
France  and  Belgium? 


